Primitive tribalism

As the November elections draw near, political speculation will only increase. Who will be the candidates for the Senate? How will Froilan Tenorio’s new Reform Party fare? Which candidates will the Reform Party field? The Democrats? The Republicans and the Independents? Who will win, and what will be the factors that ultimately determine victory on election day?

To many outside observers, indigenous family ties still play a pivotal role in any election. The indigenous folks still dominate the electorate, and paying homage to all of the influential families apparently still counts more than mere ideas and ideals.

This fundamental tendency represents the damning plague of the Northern Marianas: the recurring theme of primitive tribalism, which will forever stifle our modern progress and development so long as we continue to embrace it. It is at the root of almost all of our problems and is, indeed, a major obstacle toward renewing our prosperity in these difficult times of economic contraction.

Primitive tribalism–it’s the notion, the prevailing cultural ideology that suggests that nepotism is far greater than merit; that race, relatives and collectivism are vastly superior to the rational intellect, to the realm of reason, ideas and sound, objective public policy.

Primitive tribalism is the driving force behind the bankrupt, incompetent leadership presently ruining our beloved commonwealth–surrendering prosperity to protectionism. Article 12, the labor moratorium, the three-year limit, the $100,000 security deposit–all of these anti-business, anti-investment, anti-progress measures have their roots in primitive tribalism.

CNMI homeowners pay 10 percent (instead of 8 percent, the Guam/US mainland standard) on their mortgages because Article 12 precludes banks from easily foreclosing on real estate collateral. As a result, the CNMI is a bigger investment risk, a bigger credit risk–and hence more inflationary–merely because our primitive tribal culture holds land ownership as a sacred function of sexual intercourse between two procreating indigenous folks.

Hundreds of income-producing businesses are closing their doors because their labor supply has been arbitrarily limited by the government, out of fear that the aliens are coming to take over our islands and threaten our primitive, tribal way of life. Which is precisely why we had to “protect” ourselves with the labor moratorium, the three-year limit, and the $100,000 “security” deposit.

If you are fed up with the backward, primitive tribalism arresting our islands, then vote for merit and ideas–not for family ties–this November, so that we might once again put this commonwealth back on track to 21st Century prosperity.
Froilan’s Reform Party might be a good place to start, but if you have any doubts, then please sign the petition I will soon be circulating to enter my name on the ballot.

Thank you and Si Yuus Maase!